The Prisoner Dilemma
by RabulaTasa
Summary: AU "I knew what I was doing was wrong, I simply didn't care." After six months of terror, Kim finally manages to capture Zorpox the Conqueror and restore the lovable Ron... but the boy still has to pay his debt to society. A Bad Boy "what if?" story.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Kim Possible

**Author's Note**: At first, this was to be a spinoff of Mengsk's story _Dark Reign_ (which, if you haven't read it, you _should_, as well as its predecessor _The Smartymart Incident_). However, the author of that story pointed out that I could very well branch off of the episode of "Bad Boy" instead, and thereby have a much more commonly known source material as the basis for the story. And although that bit of advice makes a good deal of sense, I can't help but credit the exchange that got this plot bunny rompin' through my head:

"I would have thrown your ass in a maximum security GJ psyche ward. Visited you regularly and tell you how much progress you were making, what a sweet boy you are. But I would never have let you go."

Also, I find it funny that I'm now two for two for imprisoning members of Team Possible in my KP stories. Just getting that out there so nobody else can claim to have noticed it first.

_In prison, you get the chance to see who really loves you._

-Surge Knight

* * *

_**Utility**_

_Good evening, I'm Tim Lehrer, and this is the Newsminute. In today's top story, former teen hero and international supercriminal Ronald Stoppable—better known as Zorpox the Conqueror—plead guilty to all of the charges being brought up against him, the most serious of which included twenty counts of attempted murder, over two hundred counts of aggravated assault, and treason. In accordance with the plea agreement Mr. Stoppable made with the federal prosecutors, he will receive a sentence of twenty-five years to life in an undisclosed maximum security facility and a fine of ten thousand dollars._

_As the arraignment was underway, demonstrations cropped up across the country. One such demonstration taking place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina rallied behind the former member of Team Possible._

"_It's just not right! Don has helped save the world _countless_ times, and this is how the world repays him? We throw the book at him because some supervillain's doomsday device _literally _fried his brain? That's injustice, pure and simple. Tom deserves better than that. _We_ deserve better than that."_

_Other demonstrations, however, demanded harsher penalties for the fallen hero._

"_What kind of a message are we sending our children? This _criminal_ is getting special treatment because he was a famous _vigilante_ before he lost his marbles. Furthermore, the idea that he became evil because of some 'Attitudinator' is patently ridiculous. That villain _knowingly_ did what he did, and he should get the chair for what he's done."_

_Mr. Stoppable had this to say after leaving the federal courthouse:_

"_My actions over the past six months, while under the influence of the Attitudinator, were nonetheless _my_ actions, and it is only proper that I pay the price for what I did. I knew what I was doing was wrong, I simply didn't care at the time. I—oh man! I'm even wearing a belt! How does that even happen?! And on national TV too… man, this _tanks_."_

_The arresting officer, Mr. Stoppable's former crime-fighting partner Kim Possible, declined to comment._

_For more on this subject, we turn to…_

* * *

A solitary car made its way down the winding dirt road, a cloud of dust following in its wake. The driver and sole human occupant of the vehicle, one Kimberly Anne Possible, had never been so nervous in her life. Since Ron's incarceration last week, every member of her best friend's family—and every member of her own—had paid a visit to the Global Justice detention facility currently housing her best friend since pre-K… everyone except her, that is.

The truth—and Kim readily admitted it—was that she was afraid to see him. After all, she _had_ been the one to knock him out and bring him in, thereby ending his months-long reign of terror. That nobody had gotten killed, either in his plots or in the assault that ended with his arrest and capture, was nothing short of a miracle, and Kim thanked God every day that neither of them would have to deal with something like that on their conscience. What she _did_ have to deal with, however, was the very real possibility that Ron would blame her for his current predicament… and she couldn't really fault him altogether too much if he did. After all, if not for his insistence on having her back while she freak-fought, he'd be back in Middleton playing _Zombie Mayhem_ on his couch. Instead, he was locked in Global Justice's most secret and secure lockdown facility.

It had taken a long talk with her mother for Kim to work up the nerve to visit her friend… that, and the fact that Mrs. Possible had hinted that if Ron _didn't_ blame her for his incarceration, then he'd think that his best friend had abandoned him if she didn't visit. After that, she had been more afraid of the consequences of _not_ visiting Ron than the possibility of him holding a grudge.

Kim's musings were abruptly cut off when the road underneath her father's car opened up, causing the sedan to tip forward and dive nose first down a much larger version of GJ's standard personnel transport tubes. Something in the back of her mind worried that her brothers, having experienced Global Justice's preferred method of entry, might install such a device in their own home, and she made a note to try and dissuade them from that course of action in as strong a manner as possible.

The vehicle finally came to a halt inside of a room that was too narrow for her to open the door and get out. Momentarily puzzled as to what was going on, her unasked questions were answered by a synthesized voice announcing that it was scanning the vehicle and its occupants for contraband. Several minutes passed before the wall in front of her dropped open and the voice directed her to drive forward. She emerged into an underground parking deck, where she quickly located a visitor's parking spot and got out of the car. After a short walk, she entered the visitor's lobby, where she was again scanned for contraband, as well as patted down by one of the security guards. Once she had satisfied the security requirements, Kim was prompted to sign in and proceed to the waiting room.

The waiting room was no different from any one of thousands of waiting rooms to be found in hospitals across the country, featuring numerous outdated magazines, a television tuned to the National News Network, and a row of uncomfortable chairs against the walls. Kim sat down and ignored the television as best she could (the only story worth reporting, it seemed, concerned the very boy she was here to visit) and waited patiently for someone to call her in.

Several minutes passed before Kim noticed that her hands were trembling. Attempting to calm herself down failed to stop their shaking, and she was about to resort to simply sitting on her hands when a very competent-looking woman appeared in the doorway opposite the entrance.

"Miss Possible?" Kim nodded her head and stood up. "Please follow me, the prisoner is ready to see you now.

_The prisoner is ready to see you now_. Kim gulped, once more willed her hands to be still, and followed.

* * *

After five minutes of walking through the hallways, Kim was thoroughly lost, and said as much to the woman guiding her.

"Heh," she chuckled, "that's the point. If you were to try and break your _boyfriend_ out," she paused to laugh at Kim's indignant sputtering, "you'd be stuck here for ages trying to find the exit. Assuming, of course, that there even would be an exit for you to find."

Kim frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

"This facility has one purpose, Miss Possible," the guide replied, all trace of laughter gone from her voice, "and that is to make sure that Zorpox the Conqueror stays locked up tight."

"His _name_," came the heated retort, "is _Ron Stoppable_."

The guard shook her head. "You misunderstand me, Miss Possible. We're here to keep Zorpox locked up inside of Ron. We don't seriously anticipate you trying to break Ron out, but there are those who would do exactly that, and then subject him to the Attitudinator once again. We can't allow that to happen, _ever_. One of the ways we ensure that it doesn't is in these very walls that have gotten you so turned around. If an unauthorized entry is detected, the walls rearrange themselves so that there's no way out. There are, of course, other security measures in place, but I won't go into detail." Abruptly, she came to a halt in the middle of the hallway. "Besides, we're here, and I think there's someone you'd rather be talking with."

Kim's confusion was dispelled as her guide retrieved a small device from her pocket and waved it in front of the wall they stood beside, causing a small panel to snap open and reveal a keypad. Kim politely turned her head as the guard input a ten-digit keycode, and yelped in surprise as the floor opened up beneath her. Several moments later, Kim was deposited in… Ron's room?

"Hola, KP," came a voice from behind her. She spun around to see her best friend since pre-K smiling at her. "Welcome to la casa Stoppable."

* * *

Kim gaped at her friend's smiling visage for a moment before launching herself at him and tackling him to the ground in a hug. Relieved beyond belief that he apparently bore her no ill will for his present situation, she sat up and immediately proceeded to speak at a lightning-fast pace, failing to notice that his face was quickly approaching the same color as her hair. When he began clearing his throat, however, she realized the position she was in and hopped up off of him, offering her hand to help him stand up. Once he was on his feet, she got her first good look at him. He looked almost exactly like the boy she had last seen six long months ago when Shego had dumped Drakken into her lap and stolen Ron out from under her. The only visible difference was his attire. Instead of his usual cargo pants and red jersey, Ron was sporting a light blue jumpsuit with black numbers printed on his chest and back.

"24601?" Kim asked, her eyebrow arched in amusement. Ron snorted. He and Kim had read _Les Miserables_ for their ninth grade English class... or at least, _Kim_ had read it, and then explained it to Ron.

"Yeah," he replied with a grin, "I think someone here might have smuggled in a sense of humor." His eyes shifted from Kim to something behind her, and a look of despair settled onto his face. "Unfortunately, _some_ people are beyond all hope of salvation in the humor department."

Puzzled at Ron's change in demeanor, Kim turned around to see what he was looking at. There, sitting beside an old beat-up desk—just like the one Ron had at his parents' house—was an enormous package that was clearly labeled to reveal that one Steve Barkin had in fact sent the renowned goof-off…

"Twenty months worth of school work, with due dates spread throughout the time between now and when I would have graduated." His shoulders slumped as he hung his head despairingly and plaintively wailed, "even in _here_ I can't get away from Mr. B!"

Kim struggled to suppress a laugh at Ron's antics. "I think it's really thoughtful of him, Ron! It's as close as we'll get to being able to graduate together."

Ron groaned and threw himself into a nearby chair. "I _know_ that KP," he whined, throwing his arms up into the air dramatically, "but do you have _any_ idea how much extra homework he assigned me for trying to take over the world?!"

Kim's steely resolve finally gave way, and she collapsed in a paroxysm of laughter.

* * *

The next few months after Kim's first visit flew by for the teenage pair. Ron, in spite of being confined to his "cell" twenty-four hours a day, managed to keep himself occupied. When he wasn't entertaining visitors—Kim came every Friday and whenever she could make it during the week, and both their parents stopped by when their schedules permitted—Ron would spend his time doing Barkin's homework (in spite of his griping, he really _did_ appreciate the gruff educator's gesture), playing unhealthy amounts of mind-rotting video games, and (once his request had been approved) beating on a punching bag that he had had hung from the ceiling in the corner.

When Kim _was_ there, it was as though they started up exactly where they had left off the last time that they had seen each other. Kim would provide Ron with tutoring so that he could keep up with Barkin's assignments (Ron joked once that 'if I had known that going to prison would've improved my grades this much, I'd have gone over to the dark side long ago.' Kim was _not_ amused, and the subject was never mentioned again.), and once that was taken care of the pair would relax and chat (or knock around the punching bag and chat) about whatever came to mind. The subjects discussed included Bonnie being annoying, the Tweebs plotting to break Ron out of prison (and abandoning the scheme only because they couldn't figure out a way to execute step three without destroying the facility), Bonnie being irritating, the possibility of Kim smuggling in some Bueno Nacho and Rufus (Kim was keeping it a surprise, but she was having some luck in persuading Dr. Director to allow exactly that), the likelihood of the Bueno Nacho actually making it all the way to Ron with Rufus in such close proximity to the cheesy fare (slim to none), Bonnie being frustrating, and Kim's junior prom.

During the weeks leading up to the prom, Kim had been rather dismissive of the whole affair. She didn't have a date to the prom, and she didn't need one. Ron could tell that, in spite of her attempts to hide it, the idea of going alone to the dance bothered her a fair bit, and he felt extraordinarily guilty at the fact that deep down, he was even the _slightest_ bit relieved that she wasn't going out with another "golden hottie." When Kim came to visit one day gushing about some "Eric" fellow that had just transferred to Middleton High, Ron was outwardly encouraging to his best friend. Two days later, Kim arrived and immediately launched into telling Ron about how Eric had "made it his 'mission' to take her to the prom" that coming Saturday. Ron choked back that bubble of _something_ rising within him, congratulated his best friend, and then steered the conversation towards a different subject by asking about Bonnie. After half an hour of ranting about "the food chain," he _almost_ regretted it.

When Kim came to visit on the Sunday after the prom, Ron expected to hear a happy recollection of the events of the previous night. As he waited for her to make her way to his cell, he steeled himself; in spite of the bile that climbed up his throat at the mere _thought_ of Eric, he truly hoped that Kim had had an enjoyable night.

He did _not_ expect, however, for Kim to immediately snatch him into a hug and start crying on his shoulder. The redhead sobbed into his jumpsuit for several minutes, as Ron felt the faint remnants of his Zorpox persona come up with imaginative ways to deal with the obvious cause of Kim's emotional distress: Eric. More level-headed personalities eventually won out over the blue-hued madman inside his head as Kim calmed down to the point of being able to recollect the story. She told him about Ned calling in an emergency to the website and Wade calling her off of the dance floor to deal with it (Ron made a mental note to be extra nice to Ned if he ever saw him again). That call from Ned was quickly followed by the Tri-City area suddenly being riddled with giant robots attacking everything in sight. The Tweebs had stepped up to the challenge and put their destructive tendencies to good use by leveling the Bueno Nacho transmitting dish in Middleton (as well as anything within a three hundred meter radius of said dish) while Kim made her way to the BN headquarters.

"Once I got there, I fought with Shego—as usual. We were trading blows pretty evenly when she jumped through a doorway into what I _thought_ was an empty conference room. When I ran in, however, I saw Shego holding Eric hostage, threatening to fry him if I didn't surrender. I didn't think she would actually do it, but I couldn't take the chance. A few henchmen tied me up, and once I was secure, Shego let Eric go." Suddenly Kim stopped talking, and after a few moments Ron realized the implications of her sudden silence. As she noticed his eyes go wide in understanding, she continued.

"H-he was a _synthodrone_ that Drakken had manufactured to mess with my head, Ron! After I was tied up, he picked me up and carried me down to the basement and tied me to one of Bueno Nacho's promotional props. I had been so thoroughly played… Drakken was going to take over the world, and I had nothing left."

Ron, who had sat down to listen to Kim's story, found himself on his feet before he even realized what he was doing. "That's quitter talk, KP!" Realizing that his outburst was several hours too late to do any good, and that the heroine had _obviously_ come up with something to stop the nefarious doctor from successfully taking over the world, he sheepishly sat back down and waited for Kim to continue.

As for Kim, Ron's sudden outburst had her stunned speechless for a moment, only for her to almost die laughing. At Ron's indignant look, she calmed herself down enough to explain. "Ron, you have _no_ idea… that's exactly what I imagined what you would have said in that sitch, and that's exactly what got me motivated to go kick Drakken's butt."

Ron smiled. "Even in here, KP, I've got your back."

Kim returned the smile and nodded at his declaration before continuing. "That was when Rufus popped out of wherever he had gone hiding when the fighting had started, and he used my laser lipstick to cut me loose. After that, it was pretty straightforward: I kicked Shego around some and threw her into the main transmission tower controlling Drakken's robots, Rufus found Eric's Achilles heel—sharp objects—and turned him into a puddle of goop with a well-placed nip, and Drakken finally landed the prison sentence he so richly deserved."

Ron was confused; from the sound of things, everything turned out alright in the end… so why was she so distraught when she arrived? When he asked Kim, the response he got was definitely _not_ what he had expected.

"Ron," she asked with her eyes to the floor, feeling strangely unable to meet her best friend's gaze, "do you think that there's anybody out there… for me?"

Stunned into silence for a moment, Ron was about to reply when the guard that escorted Kim down to Ron's cell dropped down from the tube that allowed entry to the room.

"Miss Possible, you have an urgent call from Dr. Load up at the front desk. We need to get there immediately."

Kim nodded at the guard. "Thank you, I'll be right there." Turning to Ron, she wrapped him in a tight hug and kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Thanks for always being there for me Ron; you're the best friend I could ever hope for." With that, she dashed over to the smirking guard and followed her out of the room.

Two minutes later, Ron blinked and looked around him. "Wait… what?"

* * *

The next time Kim visited, her family and his visited with her. She didn't bring up her sudden display of affection from her last visit, and neither did Ron; both of them acted as though nothing had happened at all, although both of them knew that something subtle had changed between them. The doctors Possible, however, _were_ behaving oddly. Mr. Dr. P kept giving Ron the stink eye when he thought nobody was looking and muttering under his breath about 'black hole deep,' while Mrs. Dr. Possible looked as though Christmas had come early. The three Stoppables came to the conclusion that the Possible parents had had bad and good days at work, respectively, and didn't bring the subject of their odd behavior up.

About halfway through the visit, Kim gave Ron her surprise: Dr. Director had finally caved on allowing her to bring Bueno Nacho and Rufus, and although the fast food franchise was temporarily closed to repair the damage dealt to it by the devious Dr. Drakken's diabolical Diablo scheme, the naked mole rat was more than available. For the first time in many months, the boy and his rat were reunited, and the excited rodent flew up his owner's arm to plaster himself against his face. Even Mr. Dr. Possible's scowl vanished for a moment at the happy reunion. For a few minutes, Rufus and Ron talked, the naked mole rat chittering excitedly and gesticulating to emphasize whatever he was saying. Suddenly, Ron's face turned serious, and Rufus scrambled to the boy's hand and snapped to attention, throwing out a tiny salute.

"So I hear you've been watching KP's back for me while I've been gone. Is this true?"

Rufus nodded vigorously. "Mmhm, mmhm, oh yeah!"

"And I hear you even popped a certain sack of goo that shall remain nameless. Is this true?"

Again Rufus nodded, before turning his head to the side and gagging. "Eric, yechh!"

"Nameless, man!" came Ron's reprimand.

"Oh yeah," the suddenly sheepish mole rat squeaked out, "sorry."

Ron silently studied his best nonhuman friend for a moment before turning to the somewhat amused assembly of friends and family. "I think he's earned some extra cheese, don't you guys?" A chorus of agreements and an excited squeak of "cheese!" answered his question.

"Then by the authority vested in me by Smartymart, I declare that Rufus Stoppable shall receive no less than _three_ wheels of cheddar and one pound of provolone, to be supplied as you guys see fit." His serious expression cracked into a wide grin. "Rufus, my man, you _rule_!"

* * *

It was four in the morning one Sunday in November that Ron awoke from his sleep with a start. Scrambling out of bed, he dashed over to his desk and picked up his calendar. Seeing the date that he had circled in red was technically _today_, he let out an exasperated groan.

"Oh, man, I completely forgot that was today!" He collapsed into the chair beside him and put his head in his hands. "What am I gonna _do_?" he plaintively moaned.

It was then that inspiration struck: when he was still too tired to know better. After a few minutes of plotting, Ron sprang into action. There was no time to lose!

* * *

It was seven in the morning on that very same Sunday that Kim was roused from her sleep by the four tone beep of the Kimmunicator. Sleepily, she rolled out of bed and answered the device.

"G'morning Wade," she yawned. "What's up?" His response immediately banished the mere thought of sleep.

"Kim, Ron's escaped!"

* * *

A blond-haired boy stood alone in the dark room, his expert hands deftly utilizing the myriad machines at his disposal to bring his planned creation into being. Once the components for the final product had been manufactured, he set about assembling them in the proper arrangement.

One cylinder here, a dab of his homemade gluey-substance to hold it in place. Turn the next cylinder to fit with the first, and add more glue. Like a mad master sculptor he worked, giggling to himself through the entire process. Several times he heard the sound of approaching feet and ducked under his workspace, but nobody came in to look for him. Finally, his hours of hard work paid off, and all that was left to do was lay in wait with his creation in hand.

"Kim won't know what hit her."

* * *

"When I get my hands on that boy, he won't know what hit him!" To say that Kim was 'tweaked' would be an understatement, and Dr. Betty Director could sympathize with what she was feeling. Still, the head of Global Justice needed to keep a level head, and refused to allow herself to show how angry she was.

And she was angry. Dr. Director was angry at Ron for having abused her trust—and Kim's—by making an escape attempt (and why _today_ of all days?!), she was angry at her underlings for having been so lax as to let the most heavily monitored teenage boy in America slip through their grasp, and she was angry at herself for believing that he wouldn't pull a stunt like this.

But at the moment, none of that was relevant. What mattered was tracking down _Zorpox_ and preventing him from ever being able to as much as set one _foot_ outside his very restrictive boundaries. To that end, she had all available agents combing the area above ground to find any trace of where the criminal had gotten off to, Wade Load combing through her systems to figure out how the prisoner had slipped past all of the security in place to keep him contained, and Kim Possible on hand to carry out the capture once her people had tracked the villain down.

"I think I've figured it out, Dr. Director," said the techno-wiz sitting at the computer. "A glitch in the security camera software resulted in the video feed being stuck on a continuous loop; I don't know how long it's been doing that, though."

Betty frowned at the information. "That doesn't seem possible, though. You can see the roaming guards walking through each of the cameras."

"That's because the loop is forty-eight hours long. And there's more besides. You know the transport tube leading out of his cell?"

The senior agent nodded. "Yes, it requires a biometrically controlled key fob and a one-time use ten-digit passcode to gain entry."

The genius grimaced. "True, but whoever programmed the tube seems to have just recycled the code for the tubes at GJ headquarters; getting _in_ requires the security measures you mentioned, but getting _out_…"

"… requires nothing but stepping on the platform. Good Lord, have we just let Zorpox the Conqueror _walk_ out of his cell?"

"That's possible, Dr. Director. Fortunately, all the rest of the facility's security measures seem to be in perfect working order, and the fix for these two oversights is… done!"

Wade hit the reboot key for the cameras and the security lockdown for the cell's transport tubes, shutting both systems off for a brief moment.

* * *

Ron crept down the hallway with a large white box cradled in his arms as stealthily as he could.

He had only lost his pants _twice_ on his way back.

After twenty minutes of wandering, he finally admitted that he was completely lost. He hadn't seen the entrance to his cell since he had arrived here back in February, and realized that he wouldn't know how to get inside even if he _did_ know where it was. As he began to contemplate the possibility of simply finding a guard and asking to be escorted back to his cell, the ground opened up beneath him, and he found himself whisked away back to _exactly_ where he was trying to be.

"And they said there was no such thing as 'the Ron factor,'" he quipped as he reattached his ankle bracelet and waited for Kim to show up for today's visit.

* * *

"And… everything's back online, Doctor."

"That's good to hear, Mr. Load. Do you know yet how he could have gotten past the rest of the security measures?"

Wade shook his head. "No, as best I can tell they're all working perfectly. Even with the security issues with his cell, Ron shouldn't have been able to leave the facility."

Dr. Director's eyes narrowed. "Maybe he hasn't left yet, then." Picking up a radio, she called in to the agents above ground. "I want teams Romeo and Sierra back inside for another interior sweep. You have five minutes to report to the warden's office. Director out." She turned to Kim. "Possible, I want you to go with them. When they get to the office, have them start at Mr. Stoppable's cell and work through every nook and cranny in this building. Mr. Load, I want you to rearrange the walls to allow for a maximum field of vision, but leave the walls nearest the cell where they are to let the search teams to find it quickly." The two teens nodded and set off to carry out their orders.

* * *

Ron heard the loud rumble of the walls on the floor above him moving around, but paid it no mind. The people in charge would rearrange the maze upstairs from time to time, but since it didn't really have much of an impact on him he stopped paying attention to it after the first few times.

He idly looked at his bedside clock, and decided that he'd have enough time to catch up on some of the sleep he'd missed before Kim arrived. Crawling into bed, he was out like a light in seconds.

* * *

The Romeo and Sierra teams, with Kim at their head, walked into the formerly labyrinthine hallways and signaled Wade to close the door behind them with one of the movable walls, which he did.

Kim was surprised at how deceptively large the area had seemed when the maze walls had been in their proper locations. Now that she could see clearly from one end of the large room to the other, she could tell that what she had thought to be an absolutely enormous set of passageways was actually little bigger than the Middleton high school gymnasium. Still visible were the walls that _couldn't_ move—mostly those that were part of rooms that couldn't move, like the guard hut, the kitchen, the laundry room, and several other unlabelled stationary rooms—as well as the wall by Ron's cell that allowed access to the keypad that opened the entryway to his cell.

The teams were quickly divided into tasks, with several members being assigned to clear each of the immobile rooms. Kim herself opted to search through Ron's cell to see if she could find some clue in there that she had overlooked that would hint to him making a run for it. One of the guards escorted her to the cell and, once she was provided with a keycode from Wade to gain entry to the room, Kim stepped onto the transport tube opening and descended into the room.

To say that she was surprised to see Ron's slumbering form in his bed would have been a gross understatement, but she kept herself calm and radioed her discovery in. After informing the other recovery teams and Dr. Director that the subject of their search had been located and secured, she walked over to his chair and sat down to watch him sleep as she waited for the others to arrive.

* * *

Ron awoke to the sound of someone moving around in his room. Sleepily, he waved the intruder off, mumbling under his breath about "five more minutes, Mom."

"Ronald Dean Stoppable, you get out of that bed right this instant!" Kim's authoritative voice pierced through the drowsy fog, and with a yelp Ron fell off the bed in a tangle of limbs and sheets. As he jumped to his feet, he felt two pricks on his face followed quickly by the sensation of his body being on fire, and he collapsed onto the floor twitching.

Several moments later, he required his bearing, and sat up off the floor to see both Kim and Dr. Director very loudly reading Will Du the riot act. Du was defending his decision to hit Ron with his stopwatch by claiming that the boy had been "about to attack Miss Possible," a claim that both ladies found to be patently ridiculous.

The other occupants in the room wisely chose to remain silent on the matter, instead opting to keep an eye on Ron.

"Ma'am, he's getting up again."

Immediately, Kim was at his side, her eyes full of concern. "Are you alright, Ron? Do you know where you are?"

Ron nodded. "I'm alright, and I'm in the prison GJ built for me, which is… I have no idea where it is."

"Good," Kim said, smiling at her best friend. Moments later, however, the smile was replaced by narrowed eyes and a scowl. "That means I won't have any moral issue with knocking some sense into you." With that, she placed both of her hands very firmly on Ron's shoulders, who winced at the reminder of exactly how strong his friend really was. "_What on Earth were you thinking?!_" she shouted, shaking him like a ragdoll.

"What the amateur here means to ask," quipped Will, "is what could have possibly driven you to think that you could ever hope to escape from this facility." Kim stopped shaking Ron to look over her shoulder and glare at the obnoxious "Top Agent."

"Escape?" Ron asked. "I never tried to escape."

"Ron," Kim said in exasperation as she squeezed his shoulders a little harder, "don't try and get out of it. GJ found out that you weren't in your cell at seven this morning. We _know_ you got out. I just want to know _why_ you did it." Her eyes began to tear up as she spoke. "You can't do this sort of thing, Ron! They can take away your visitation privileges!"

Ron's eyes got wide at the thought, and he almost fell over himself to explain. "No, no, no, I _wasn't_ trying to escape! Really!" He looked around, and seeing that nobody believed him, he turned to Dr. Director. "I was in the kitchen the entire time, honest!" He turned back to Kim. "I remembered this morning what today was, so I took off my ankle bracelet so it wouldn't bother anyone by setting off the alarms-"

"Hold on," interrupted Dr. Director, "do you expect me to believe that you _just_ took off that ankle bracelet like that? It takes more than a few hours to get one of those off without the proper tools, and even then the alarm will sound as soon as you remove it."

Ron looked puzzled. "All I did was push the 'off' button and it fell right off."

The senior agent looked almost insulted. "Mr. Stoppable, I know for a fact that there is _no_ such button on that device-" Ron extended his leg to her, and her eyes grew wide as she inspected the tracking accessory.

"It has an 'off' button." Dr. Director blinked for a few seconds in surprise before dropping Ron's leg and picking up her radio. "Mr. Load, who the hell designed Ron's ankle bracelet?"

The sound of keyboard tapping came across the radio before Wade's voice provided the answer. "It looks like one Dr. Andrew Lipsky patented the device several years ago, and Global Justice purchased a shipment of five hundred of them because they were the cheapest on the market at the time."

The head of Global Justice groaned. "Thank you, Mr. Load. I don't suppose you could whip up a replacement for Ron? Perhaps one _without_ an 'off' button?" Wade nervously chuckled an affirmative and cut out. Dr. Director looked over at Will Du and scowled.

"Didn't I tell _you_ to search the kitchen area when Stoppable was discovered missing?"

"Yes, but I decided that such a task was an obvious waste of time for a top agent like myself, and-" Du didn't even finish his sentence before Betty laid into him. For a few minutes, Kim, Ron, and the security guards simply laid back and enjoyed the show. When Dr. Director started to repeat herself, however, Kim turned to her friend.

"What exactly were you doing in the kitchen, Ron?"

"Lemme show you, KP." Ron got to his feet and walked over to his desk.

"He's making a break for it!" came the voice of Will Du from behind Ron, and he felt two more pricks on the back of his neck.

When he came to his senses this time, Du was sitting on the floor two black eyes, a bloody nose, and a dazed look on his face, and Kim was kneeling at Ron's side looking worried again.

"Hey KP," he said, smiling in spite of the fact that the mere act of sitting upright was almost more than he could handle, "how about you get that box on my desk instead of me?"

The look of concern still on her face, Kim stood up and made her way to the desk, picked up the white box Ron had indicated, and carried it back to Ron, sitting down with it in her lap.

"Open it, and tell me what you think." She followed his instructions to reveal a delicious-looking chocolate-iced cake with the words 'Happy 18th Birthday KP' artfully written in green, black, and yellow icing on top. "I forgot to grab some plates and forks when I was coming back from the kitchen, so-" he was cut off as Kim carefully placed the cake box on the floor beside her and then did her best to squeeze the life out of her best friend. Several moments later, a very red-faced Ron was released, and one of the security guards was dispatched to retrieve the plates and forks Ron had forgotten to bring.

Minutes later, when everyone had finished off their slice of cake (Kim had insisted that everyone have a piece—even Du, although his was conspicuously smaller than everyone else's) and the guards had returned to their normal duty stations, Dr. Director sat Ron and Kim down.

"First of all, Mr. Stoppable, I want your solemn promise to never do anything like this again. Surprising Kim is one thing, but surprising _me_ is a bad idea. If you want to cook something up, send a request up for an escort." Ron nodded his understanding; he hadn't intended to cause all the trouble he had, but he knew that if he had been thinking he would have realized that sneaking out of his cell wasn't the brightest move he'd ever made. "For the next few months, you're going to be on probation of sorts. You've been a model inmate up until now, and if you keep it that way then you'll have no problems… but if you mess up, I'm going to revoke your visitation privileges until the first of March. Do you understand me?" He nodded, his eyes downcast.

"And Miss Possible?" Kim looked over at the agent, who allowed a small smile onto her face. "The next time he bakes you a cake, save a slice for me. That's possibly the best tasting cake I've eaten in my entire life!" With that, Dr. Director got up and left the two teenagers alone.

"KP, I'm so sorry-" Ron was cut off by Kim's fingers pressing his lips shut.

"No big Ron, just don't do that again. _Ever_." Ron smiled, happy that he was forgiven for the mess he had created.

* * *

Winter passed without much excitement. On February second, Rufus saw his shadow and thereby predicted six more weeks of eating cheese. Neither teen mentioned the passing of Valentine's Day to the other, although neither knew why they consciously avoided the topic. March rolled around, marking the end of Ron's probation, and when Kim visited on St. Patrick's Day, hoping to get a pinch in, she was amused to discover that the prison had preempted her and issued Ron a green uniform for the holiday. They discussed Kim's more interesting missions, such as Drakken's apparent possession by a pirate spirit and Shego's temporary foray into teaching high school and (shudder) dating Mr. Barkin. His parents arrived one day with an baby Japanese girl that they had adopted, and Ron had fallen to the infant's devious charms almost immediately.

Soon enough May rolled around, and Ron asked Kim who she planned on going to prom with this year. Immediately, Kim blushed to the roots of her hair, and confessed that she had thought about "this one guy" she had had her eye on since the fiasco of last year's prom. When he asked who the guy was, and why she hadn't mentioned him before, Kim ignored the first question and replied to the second one with the sensible answer of "I wanted to make sure it wasn't a rebound." After that, he'd dropped the subject (much to Kim's relief), and they'd talked about what colleges Kim was looking to attend. Ron noticed that the majority of the ones she was seriously considering were on the West Coast, and when he mentioned this Kim honestly answered that she didn't want to be too far away to spend time with her family and best friend for the next four years.

Ron was very glad to hear that.

The week before Kim's prom were a little awkward between the two friends. Ron knew that he was dying to know who Kim was going to the prom with—or who she _wanted_ to go with, at least—and Kim… well, he didn't know why Kim was acting weirdly. She almost seemed nervous about something, although Ron didn't have the slightest idea of what that would be.

His answer to both those questions came one evening in the form of Dr. Director in a dress walking into his room and tossing Ron a tuxedo. "Put this on, Mr. Stoppable. You've got a mission to go on." Ron was confused, but he did as he was told, and ten minutes later he was wearing the formalwear and a confused expression on his face. His confusion only increased as several discretely armed guards escorted him from his cell and into an area of the facility he hadn't ever seen before: the motor pool.

"Dr. Director, what's going on here? Where are we going?" Ron couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, and his understanding of the situation wasn't helped when the senior agent laid her hand on his arm and steered him towards a black limousine in the back of the garage.

"Your mission, Mr. Stoppable, should you choose to accept it, is to show a young lady a good time tonight."

Ron sputtered and jumped back away from the head of Global Justice. "Ah, Dr. Director, I'm-uh-I mean…" Ron's voice trailed away to nothingness as Betty graced him with an amused look.

"Ronald, I believe I said a _young _lady, did I not?" Ron's panicked expression didn't change in the slightest, except for the slightest arching of his left eyebrow. "Ronald, I'm more than _twice_ your age." Ron's expression shifted to outright disbelief, and she couldn't keep herself from laughing.

"Oh, I can definitely see what she sees in you, you little flatterer! Now get in the damn limo already."

Still not entirely certain of what was going on, Ron nonetheless approached the vehicle he'd been directed towards. As he walked towards it, a male agent in a GJ dress uniform appeared out of the shadows and opened the door for him. Ron thanked the agent and climbed into the limo. His eyes widened in surprise at the person he found himself sitting across from.

"Felix? I take it _you're_ the young lady I'm going out with tonight?" Ron's remark was met with a disgusted snort and an amused eyeroll from Felix, and raucous laughter from Monique and… Kim.

_Oh._

Ron's throat closed up, his heart stopped, and his mouth went dry. From a purely medical standpoint, he was fairly certain he was dying… and if he had to go, _this_ was the way to do it.

Kim was blushing furiously, but Ron's reaction to her attire was _definitely_ encouraging, and she worked up the courage to ask the question she had been itching to ask for a long time.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable, will you go with me to the prom tonight?"

In the front passenger seat, Dr. Director smiled widely at the muffled "Boo-yah!" coming from the back of the limo. Raising her radio to her face, she issued the order to the GJ escort vehicles to start making their way to Middleton High.

_Mission accomplished, Mr. Stoppable._

* * *

_End_

**Author's Note**: Holy crap, it's actually longer than my profile!


End file.
